Lagos court sentences vulcaniser, Chidozie Onyinchiz to death for stealing N57,000

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Lagos court sentences vulcaniser, Chidozie Onyinchiz to death for stealing N57,000

A special offences court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos has sentenced Chidozie Onyinchiz, a 32-year-old vulcaniser, to death by hanging for robbing a nurse of N57,000.

According to NAN, Mojisola Dada, the trial judge, on Tuesday, found Onyinchiz guilty of the three-count charge of conspiracy, armed robbery, and membership of an unlawful society.

During the trial, Afolake Onayinka, the state prosecutor, told the court that Onyinchiz committed the crime with an accomplice still at large on August 12, 2018.

Onayinka said Veronica Uwayzor, the complainant, ran into a white garment church at Alimosho LGA after she was robbed.

The state prosecutor argued that the offences contravened the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2015.

Delivering the verdict, the judge ruled that the defendant admitted to committing the crimes levelled against him.

“The defendant had stated that the complainant pointed at him as one of the boys armed with a pair of scissors and forcefully snatched her bag containing N57,000 at Akesan bus stop,” NAN quoted the trial judge.

“The complainant had stated that neither the defendant nor his accomplice, Ediri Endurance, (still at large) wore masks which made it possible for her to easily recognise Onyinchiz, a few hours after the robbery.

“The first statement of the defendant which he made at Igando police station confirmed that he and Ediri went to Akesan bus stop on the day of the robbery.

“Onyinchiz admitted to belonging to an unlawful society as he stated that: ‘this is my first time of coming to Akesan to steal. I was initiated into Eiye Confraternity in 2009 but I have not killed before’.

“The same information of him being a vulcaniser was also contained in the statement he made at Igando police station and the one he made at the special anti-robbery squad office at Ikeja.

“In his confessional statement, Onyinchiz stated that he met Ediri Endurance on a public bus and Endurance took him to his father’s house after the bus developed a fault.

“He also stated that they ended up sleeping in an uncompleted building because Endurance’s father did not open the door for them to spend the night in his house.

“The statement corroborated the submission of the victim that she was accosted at about 4.30 a.m by two boys holding an iron rod and a pair of scissors on the day of the incident.

“She said the two boys were the ones who robbed her.

“The totality of the evidence before the court is compelling and I find the defendant guilty of the charges preferred against him.

“He is hereby sentenced to death by hanging and may God have mercy on his soul.’’

The court ruling has elicited reactions on social media as many Nigerians argued that the magnitude of the punishment is not on the same level as the crime committed.